January 2014

January 31, 2014

DALLAS -- Shawn Marion will not play tonight when the Dallas Mavericks host the Sacramento Kings at 7:30 at American Airlines Center.

Coach Rick Carlisle said on Thursday that Marion hasn't fully recovered from the right shoulder and upper rib contusions that forced him to miss four games from Jan. 8-13. The injury occurred when Marion tripped over teammate Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasl of the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 7.

"He's not going to play tonight and he'll be listed probably day-to-day and we hope he can feel better sometimes soon,'' Carlisle said after Friday morning's shootaround. "It's not a setback.

"It's just not there.''

With no Marion, the Mavs will bump Jae Crowder up a notch in the rotation.

Outgoing NBA commissioner David Stern acknowledged in a recent interview that’ll air tonight that it was his powerful influence which led to Mark Cuban eventually becoming the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

In an interview with Turner Sports’ Ernie Johnson that will air tonight at 6 CST on NBA-TV, Stern said Cuban started being Cuban even before the sale of the Mavs from Ross Perot Jr. to Cuban was finalized on Jan. 4, 2000, and that the deal came extremely close to falling through. However, Stern said he stepped in and persuaded the NBA Board of Governors to vote to approve Cuban's ownership.

“When Mark bought the team, and it was under contract, he started being Mark before he’d closed,’’ Stern told Johnson in an excerpt which aired late Thursday night on TNT. “We had a very difficult meeting where there was an approval that was sought and the vote of the two combined committees that were going to pass on it was surprisingly close.

“If that vote was reported out to the board, he would not have been approved. And I said, ‘You know guys, that’s why you pay me the big bucks. So I think he’ll be Ok and I think we should make the vote as close to unanimous as we can,’ and they said OK.’’

Stern admits if he had just sat tight and not made any comments to the board, “he doesn’t get it’’ – as in Cuban would not have been the Mavs’ owner.

“And I think we would have been the poorer for it, interestingly enough, despite all of his machinations and expertise -- real or imagine,’’ Stern said. “But the other owners, 'Oh, hey David, he’s your guy.’

“They never miss the opportunity to remind me. But I say, ‘Hey guys, so what? Enjoy it.’ So when you ask me if I get angry, I brought it all on myself and I’m glad I did.’’

Stern is retiring tonight at midnight after 30 years as the NBA's commissioner and will be replaced by Adam Silver. Tonight's TV show, titled David Stern: 30 Years, will review Stern's life on the job of a league that was depicted to have a drug problem when he took over, but is now considered one of the more vibrant leagues in professional sports.

As far as Stern and Cuban go, earlier this month Stern fined Cuban $100,000 for, among other things, derogatory comments he said to the officiating crew following the Mavs’ 129-127 road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 15. When asked by Johnson if Cuban knew what buttons to push to get him upset, Stern said:

“He knew what button to push to get himself fined. Last week we whacked him for $100,000. He was asking for it.

“And now he’s saying, ‘Well wait until I get a hold of Adam.’ Okay, and Adam will whack him. So what? Okay.’’

Stern has “whacked’’ Cuban for nearly $2 million in fines over the past 14-plus seasons.

“And as I said to him the Muffin Fund is being depleted,’’ Stern said. “I want to quickly add all of the fine money is dispersed to charities of ours, and if he wants to add to it, that’s fine.

“But he has to be penalized because the other owners used to write me notes: ‘David, he is questioning your invincibility, Okay.’

About five minutes of tonight’s hour-long farewell show to Stern is spent discussing Cuban. Stern talked about what it’s like to deal with newbreed owners such as Cuban, who doesn’t mind speaking his mine.

“I don’t want to hurt Mark’s feelings by indicating that he’s not that much of a problem because he would consider that to be a failure on his part,’’ Stern said. “But let me say the following:

“One of the first early owners that I had to deal with was a gentleman by the name of Ted Turner. He was a bit of a Maverick. He was imaginative. . .he would break things just for kicks, he was visionary, he was difficult, he was bombastic, he was great. And he’s a friend.’’

Stern and Cuban, indeed, have had their many clashes over the years. But as a whole, Stern said: “I would say to you that Mark is a friend. He has his own way. And in the case of Mark I am a foil and have been a foil, and gladly so, because actually we’re friends.

“I have leaned on him for advice. There are lots of things he doesn’t agree with what I’ve done, and I tell him, ‘Thank you, have a nice day, we’re going to do what we deem to be in the best interest of 30 teams, not any one team.’ But he’s very intelligent.’’

January 30, 2014

In an announcement a short time ago on TNT, the Dallas Mavericks forward was chosen as one of seven Western Conference reserves who will participate in this year's midseason classic, which will be held Feb. 16 in New Orleans.

Nowitzki was chosen to the All-Star squad for 11 straight years from 2002-'12. But he had right knee surgery on Oct. 19, 2012 and missed 29 games and was not selected to play in last year's All-Star game.

A vigorous workout ensued to get Nowitzki back to All-Star status, and he believed a spot on this year's team would validate all the hard work he put in. Then after Thursday's practice, Nowitzki vowed he would be OK if he was chosen, or not chosen, to participate in the All-Star game.

"Either way it's going to be great,'' Nowitzki said after Thursday's practice at American Airlines Center. "If I don’t go I'm going to enjoy some time away from hoops.

"And if I go, then I'll represent this franchise the right way like I always have, and enjoy my time there and that's really it. I'm fine either way.''

Nowitzki is averaging 21.6 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting 48.3 percent from the field in just 32.4 minutes oer game. And he sounded like he was ithcing to get back to playing alongside the NBA's elite.

"I went to the beach, worked on my tan last year, so that was good,'' Nowitzki said earlier Thursday. "But it was my first year last year away from it.

"Even my first couple of years when I wasn't an All-Star I went there, I represented the Mavs in the 3-point contest, I played in the rookie transition game my first year. It was kind of like a routine, so last year was kind of weird not to go because I went my whole career.''

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said his "blow-by'' comment about his team's poor defense Wednesday night against Houston was not anything calculated and that he wasn't trying to send a message to his team.

"It's pretty clear -- they know the deal,'' Carlisle said after Thursday's practice. "They know we were poor (defensively).

"We've got to do better. I take responsibility because it's my team.''

Following the 117-115 loss to the Rockets, Carlisle talked about how he decided to intentionally foul Dwight Howard in the fourth quarter because Houston was getting too many uncontested layups.

“I don’t know how many times they blew by us, but I’m glad we started fouling Howard because I was starting to get the chills over there from all the blow-bys,’’ Carlisle said. “It saved our guys the embarrassment of getting blown by two or three times in a row.’’

Carlisle admits its his job to get the Mavs playing better defense.

"The ability levels of all of our guys are different athletically, but positioning plays a big part and the strategy when you close out to a particular guy plays a part too,'' Carlisle said. "So we’ve got to know tendencies, we'v got to be in a stance, we've got to make sure we’re in a solid stance and not a stance where we’re jumping up and down that we can get beat when we’re on an uptick instead of a downtick.

"There's a lot of things to consider. Mostly as a team we've got to show help better.''

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki will learn within a few hours whether he is one of the seven Western Conference reserves named to this year's NBA All-Star team.

Nowitzki said he'll be fine with the decision, whatever it may be.

"Either way it's going to be great,'' Nowitzki said after Thursday's practice at American Airlines Center. "If I don’t go I'm going to enjoy some time away from hoops.

"And if I go, then I'll represent this franchise the right way like I always have, and enjoy my time there and that's really it. I'm fine either way.''

Nowitzki played in 11 straight All-Star games before missing out on the festivities last season.

"Relaxing was great last year,'' Nowitzki said. "I went to the beach, worked on my tan last year, so that was good.

"But it was my first year last year away from it. Even my first couple of years when I wans't an All-Star I went there, I represented the Mavs in the 3-point contest, I played in the rooke transition game my first year.''

In other words, Nowitzki has been synonymous with the All-Star game for virtually his entire 16-year career.

"Really, I've been going every year,'' he said. "It was kind of like a routine, so last year was kind of weird not to go because I went my whole career.

"It was a nice little changeup last year. But if I go (this year), then I’ll go.''

You just sit down at your computer, type in a few names, and that's that. Either way you're going to be criticized, but that goes with this territory.

With that piece of news to chew on, here's my picks for who the coaches voted to be the seven reserves in each conference for the All-Star game, which will be played Feb. 16 in New Orleans. The coach's picks will be announced tonight at 7 CST on TNT.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Frontcourt....LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland

Frontcourt....Dwight Howard, Houston

Frontcourt....Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas

Backcourt....James Harden, Houston

Backcourt.....Damian Lillard, Portland

Backcourt.....Tony Parker, San Antonio

Backcourt.....Chris Paul, LA Clippers

#Since starting guard Kobe Bryant can't play because of an injury, new NBA commissioner Adam Silver will become an instant hit in New Orleans when he names Pelicans frontcourt player Anthony Davis as the replacement to Bryant.

DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki became the 13th player in NBA history Wednesday night to score as many as 26,000 career points.

But it was just a consolation prize as the Mavs dropped a 117-115 decision to the Houston Rockets at American Airlines Center.

Nowitzki came in needing just 16 points to join the exclusive 26,000-point club. He finished with 38 points and a season-high 17 rebounds, but was in no mood to bask in the glory of any individual accomplishments.

"I've always said numbers don't mean anything in a loss, so it really means nothing,'' Nowitzki said. "We should have found a way to kind of win this one.''

The Mavs loss, Nowitzki knows, because their defense basically took the night off.

"Our defense was horrible all night,'' Nowitzki said. "Every time down somebody (from the Rockets) was in the paint laying the ball up.

"If you give up 117 at the house you're going to lose.''

So how do the Mavs (26-21) make improvements on defense?

"You've got to have some pride and try to guard your man a little better and we've got to help,'' Nowitzki said. "We know we don't have the individual greatest defenders in this league, so we've got to make it five guys got to scramble and work together.''

DALLAS -- Whenever Mark Cuban gets fined by the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks' billionaire owner has developed a practice of giving a similar amount of money to a worthy charity.

Last week the NBA fined Cuban $100,000 for his transgressions following a Jan. 15 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. On Wednesday, Cuban announced that he was donating an additiona $100,000 to the iBellieve Foundation, an organzation that raises money to find a cure for a rare disease known as mucopolysacharridosis, or Hunter Syndrome.

The iBelieve Foundation is run by Simon Ibell, who has the disease and who Cuban befriended afte rhe bought the Mavs.

“He works his (butt) off at it,” Cuban said of Ibell’s foundation. “I know all the money goes right to the cause.”

Cuban couldn't remember, but he believes Ibell’s foundation is the first one he gave money to when he first started the practice of matching his NBA fines.

January 29, 2014

DALLAS -- Almost from the time he stepped on the court Wednesday night at American Airlines Center, Samuel Dalembert never really got a chance to play much against the Houston Rockets.

The Dallas Mavericks' starting center was whistled for two fouls less than two minutes into the game. By halftime Dalembert had no points and three fouls and was taken completely out of a game the Mavs eventually lost, 117-115.

"He had a couple of touch fouls in the first two minutes, and he's got to avoid that,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "It takes discipline and he's got to be more disciplined than that.''

Dalembert, who finished the game with three fouls, two points and three rebounds in 12 minutes, insists that the refs just wouldn't let him bang with Dwight Howard.

Things like this happen in the NBA, and I still finished the game with three fouls,'' Dalembert said. "Nobody is perfect.

"We got some calls and we've got to go through it, we got to play, we got to learn how to play through it. We've got to keep going out there.''

With the much bulkier Dalembert in foul trouble, the Mavs put the much shorter DeJuan Blair on Howard and he did a commendable job holding his own. Howard finished with 21 points and a season-low five rebounds, and his point total was enhanced when he made 5-of-6 free throws after the Mavs intentionally fouled him in the fourth quarter.

DALLAS -- Chandler Parsons scored 26 points to lead the Houston Rockets to a 117-115 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night at American Airlines Center.

The loss left the Mavs 1-1 on this four-game home stand and 26-21 on the season. Houston improved to 31-17 and ended its season series with the Mavs tied at 2-2.

The Mavs trailed by 12 with 4:08 left, but managed to get into position to at least send the game into overtime. But Jose Calderon -- trying to win it -- missed a pair of 3-pointers in the final 4.9 seconds.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs with 38 points and a season-high 17 rebounds, Vince Carter scored 22, Devin Harris finished with 14 points for the third straight game, and DeJuan Blair scored 13.

Other than Parsons, the Rockets got 21 points and five rebounds from Dwight Howard, 18 points and seven assists from Jeremy Lin, 16 points from Terrence Jones, 12 points from Donatas Motiejunas, and 11 each from Patrick Beverly and Aaron Brooks.

The Rockets played without James Harden, who has sat out the past two games after bruising his left thumb last Saturday against Memphis.

Houston led 32-30 after the first quarter, 63-57 at the half and 91-85 after the third period.

The Mavs will host the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at 7:30 and Cleveland on MOnday before playing at Memphis on Feb. 5.